#percussion lock

A double-barreled Percussion Lock Shotgun with an intricately carved stock, attributed to Louis Perrin,

OaL: 46.6 in/118.4 cm

Barrel Length: 29.1 in/73.9 cm

Maynard Tape Primer

In 1845 Edward Maynard, a firearms inventor from New York, patented a system which could automatically prime a percussion musket. The US Army adopted its first percussion musket, the Model 1842, in 1842 to replace earlier flintlocks. In 1855 the US moved to replace its smoothbores and adopt a Rifle-Musket. While the percussion lock was a major improvement over the flintlock - it was quicker to load, more reliable in the field and less vulnerable to the weather, it still did not fundamentally reduce the step to load a musket.

The Model 1855 introduced not only the revolutionary Minié ball but also featured Maynard’s ingenious tape primer. Maynard’s attempt to improve upon the percussion cap system used a coiled tape of mercury fulminate, similar to a cap gun, inside its action.

Patent drawing showing Maynard’s ‘Primer Cock’ (source)

Inside, what Maynard himself called the ‘Primer Cock’, was a roll of primer tape was fed up out of a magazine to align with the weapon’s nipple. The pistol or musket still had to be loaded conventionally from the muzzle. The tape was advance automatically when the weapon’s hammer was cocked. A spurred cog rotated pushing the primer tape upwards and out of the magazine. Conventional percussion caps should still be used if Maynard’s tape was not available.

M1855 Rifle-Musket’s lock with the Maynard tape primer loaded with a tape (source)

In his patent Maynard described his tape primers: 

“A strip of paper, either in a moist or dry state is, by means of appropriate instruments and by the application of pressure, forced out into cup forms... the spaces between the cups being sufficient to prevent the communication of fire from one to the other. These cups are filled with the percussion or fulminating mixture, even with the original surface of the strip, it is then coated with a varnish of gum lack dissolved in alcohol, and covered with a thin strip of paper, and the whole is then varnished over”

Maynard claimed that this coupled with the tape magazine door rendered the primers “imperviable to moisture”. 

Maynard’s primer system was used in a host of different weapons during the period. These included the Model 1855 Rifle-Musket (see image #4 & #5), the Model 1855 Pistol-Carbine and some Model 1840 muskets were retrofitted by  Dan Nippes with new percussion lock’s including Maynard Tape Primer system (see image #1 & #2). Maynard licensed his design to various manufacturers including the Sharps Rifle Manufacturing Company and the Massachusetts Arms Company used Maynard’s primer system in the Greene-pattern carbines they manufactured.

Springfield Armory Model 1855 Pistol-Carbine with Maynard Tape Primer (source)

The US Ordnance Department took interest in Maynard’s system, allegedly at the behest of Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, and negotiated a license to place the system on various weapons at $1 per musket. Maynard was eventually paid a lump sum of $50,000 by the US government in early 1854 for unlimited use of the system. A new percussion rifle-musket, the Model 1855, was subsequently introduced using Maynard’s tape primer - over 50,000 Model 1855s were made.  

Problems with Maynard’s system soon became apparent. It was noted with some of the Nippes converted muskets that one strike of the hammer could set off as many as three caps. A more serious problem was that the tape was not sufficiently waterproofed for the rigours of use in the field. Troop trials with the tape primer Model 1855s found that as many as half of the primers misfired while the springs that fed the tape also suffered problems. Despite their waterproofing the tape primes struggled in the damp and the system was eventually abandoned. The US Army returned to the more conventional method of using percussion caps and the subsequent Model 1861 Rifle-Musket dispensed with Maynard’s tape primer system. Edward Maynard continued to develop firearms designs, including a breech-loading carbine, and died in 1891, aged 78.

Sources:

Images: 1 2 3 4 5

‘Priming Cock’, US Patent #4208, E. Maynard, 22 Sept. 1845, (source)

The Maynard Tape Primer, Firearms History, (source)

A Dentist's Innovations: Dr Edward Maynard's Tape Primers & Carbines, E. Ortner, (source)

Pistols on Tables

A beautiful silk and leather Xarpa, a baldric which could carry up to five pistols,

Height: 28 in/71.1 cm

Weight: 3.1 lbs/1417.5 g

Pistols owned by General Sir Samuel Browne 

Pair of officer's percussion pistols, 14 bore

These pistols were made in 1822 and possibly converted from flintlock to percussion in the late 1830s by James Wilkinson and Son. Widely used in India, the model became the standard issue for British officers and Senior Warrant Officers.

The property of General Sir Samuel James Browne (1824-1901), these pistols could have been family heirlooms since he did not join the Bengal Army until 1840.

NAM Accession Number

NAM. 1951-12-50-1

Copyright/Ownership

National Army Museum Copyright

Location

National Army Museum, Study collection

Object URL

Rifles of the Crimean War

Hostilities between Great Britain, France and Russia were declared 169 years ago today.  The Crimean War marked a crossroads in military history as one of the first major European wars in which the combatants used both percussion caps but also rifles. 

In 1849 the Minié was developed, this new conical bullet with a hollow base which expanded to grip the rifling twists.  The French quickly developed a new rifle to utilise the new projectile, the Pattern Minié 1851 (see image five) was in widespread use with French troops during the Crimean campaign.   Similarly the British Army during the early 1850s was embarking on an ambitious update of their service long arm.  With the introduction of the percussion cap smoothbore musket in 1842, some of which were re-barrelled with rifling, and the heavy Pattern 1851 Minié rifle (see image three) was also issued.  By 1854 however the majority of British troops were armed with the Enfield Pattern Model 1853 (see image two).  This meant 3 of the 4 British divisions which arrived in the Crimea in 1854 were armed with percussion locked rifles.

The Russian army however were less well armed.  Although they too had begun to rearm with Minié rifles their standard issue long arm was still the M1845 percussion musket (see image four).  There were 3 other smootbore models including M1844, M1845 and the M1852 in use.   While some units were issued with the new 1854 Rifles Percussion Musket many of the Russian reserve units were still issued with flintlock muskets.

These new rifles and their revolutionary round proved extremely effective.  Accurate well beyond the older smoothbore musket's range and the large conical Minié bullet caused devastating wounds, the likes of which contemporary surgeons were not prepared for.  The Russians were left at a tactical disadvantage by the extended range of their opponent's rifles.  However, the real disadvantage was the average Russian infantryman's lack of training with his weapon.  The majority of Russian infantry were issued with no more than 10 practice rounds a year and it was reported that some men with as many as 25 years of service did not know how to properly use their muskets.  These tactical and logistical disadvantages lead to the Russian army suffering heavily during the war's first major land engagement at the the Battle of Alma.  

Sources:

Image One Source

Image Two Source

Image Three Source

Image Four Source

Image Five Source